Related papers: Small Heegaard genus and SU(2)

We introduce a 4-dimensional analogue of the rational Seifert genus of a knot $K\subset Y$, which we call the rational slice genus, that measures the complexity of a homology class in $H_2(Y\times [0,1],K;\mathbb{Q})$. Our main theorem is a…

Let $LHT$ be a left handed trefoil knot and $K$ be any knot. We define $M_n(K)$ to be the homology $3$-sphere which is represented by a simple link of $LHT$ and $LHT \sharp K$ with framings $0$ and $n$ respectively. Starting with this link,…

Building off ideas developed by Agol, we construct a family of hyperbolic knots $K_n$ whose complements contain no closed incompressible surfaces and have Heegaard genus exactly $n$. These are the first known examples of small knots having…

A famous example of Casson and Gordon shows that a Haken 3-manifold can have an infinite family of irreducible Heegaard splittings with different genera. In this paper, we prove that a closed non-Haken 3-manifold has only finitely many…

Torsion polynomials connect the genus of a hyperbolic knot (a topological invariant) with the discrete faithful representation (a geometric invariant). Using a new combinatorial structure of an ideal triangulation of a 3-manifold that…

We prove a theorem which bounds Heegaard genus from below under special kinds of toroidal amalgamations of $3$-manifolds. As a consequence, we conclude $t(K_1\# K_2)\geq \max\{t(K_1),t(K_2)\}$ for any pair of knots $K_1,K_2\subset S^3$,…

We prove a rigidity theorem for degree one maps between small 3-manifolds using Heegaard genus, and provide some applications and connections to Heegaard genus and Dehn surgery problems.

Given a 2-stranded tangle in a $\ZZ/2$ homology ball, $T\subset Y$, we investigate the character variety $R(Y,T)$ of conjugacy classes of traceless SU(2) representations of $\pi_1(Y\setminus T)$. In particular we completely determine the…

Using Heegaard Floer homology, we construct a numerical invariant for any smooth, oriented $4$-manifold $X$ with the homology of $S^1 \times S^3$. Specifically, we show that for any smoothly embedded $3$-manifold $Y$ representing a…

For a knot K in $S^3$ and a regular representation $\rho$ of its group $G_K$ into SU(2) we construct a non abelian Reidemeister torsion on the first twisted cohomology group of the knot exterior. This non abelian Reidemeister torsion…

We consider closed acylindrical surfaces in 3-manifolds and in knot and link complements, and show that the genus of these surfaces is bounded linearly by the number of tetrahedra in the triangulation of the manifold and by the number of…

Let $f\colon M\to N$ be a proper map between two aspherical compact orientable 3-manifolds with empty or toroidal boundary. We assume that $N$ is not a closed graph-manifold. Suppose that $f$ induces an epimorphism on fundamental groups. We…

We find all Heegaard diagrams with the property "alternating" or "weakly alternating" on a genus two orientable closed surface. Using these diagrams we give infinitely many genus two 3--manifolds, each admits an automorphism whose…

Given an irreducible closed 3--manifold $Y$, we show that its twisted Heegaard Floer homology determines whether $Y$ is a torus bundle over the circle. Another result we will prove is, if $K$ is a genus 1 null-homologous knot in an…

We show that the only irreducible three-manifold with positive first Betti number and Heegaard Floer homology of rank two is homeomorphic to zero-framed surgery on the trefoil. We classify links whose branched double cover gives rise to…

Let $Y$ be a simple $3$-manifold, and let $A$ be a finitely generated, freely indecomposable subgroup of $\pi_1(Y)$. Set $\eta=\dim H_1(A;{\bf F}_2)$. Suppose that either (a) $\partial Y\ne\emptyset$ or (b) $\dim H_1(Y;{\bf…

Let $E$ be a semistable elliptic curve over $\mathbb{Q}$. We prove that if $E$ has non-split multiplicative reduction at at least one odd prime or split multiplicative reduction at at least two odd primes and if the rank of $E(\mathbb{Q})$…

We classify isotopy classes of irreducible Heegaard splittings of solvmanifolds. If the monodromy of the solvmanifold can be expressed as a 2 x 2 matrix with 0 in the lower right hand corner (as always is true when the absolute value of the…

Let M be an orientable closed connected 3-manifold. We introduce the notion of amalgamated Heegaard genus of M with respect to a closed separating 2-manifold F, and use it to show that the following two statements are equivalent: (i) a…

We give a combinatorial proof of a theorem first proved by Souto which says the following. Let M_1 and M_2 be simple 3-manifolds with connected boundary of genus g>0. If M_1 and M_2 are glued via a complicated map, then every minimal…